I have a 7 foot male Burmese who has always acted fine, eaten fine, etc. 5 days ago, I fed him a frozen/thawed rat (from a good source). He aggressively ate, like he always does, but yesterday morning, he regurgitated what was left. He conveniently did this while in a transport bag, so he covered himself in rat grease/slime (and also covered 2 other neighboring snakes). I was told by Kentucky reptile zoo that it would be okay to clean him with a mild soap, so I cleaned all three snakes. This morning, when I went to check on them, the Burmese was acting all but dead. He still moves a little, but will not flick his tongue at all. The other snakes are fine. I want to do something for him, QUICK, but don't know what to do! Is this a problem from the regurgitation? Over the years, I've had snakes regurgitate and never had this happen. Please help!
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PLEASE HELP!!! URGENT!!!
Replies (4)
a lot of times when a snake regurges it gets fluid in its lungs and there is not much you can do for it. I had a necropsy done on a boa years ago and that was the cause of death.
That could be true, but would that have affected him sooner? When I discovered that he had regugitated, I went to clean him and he put up a serious struggle when I soaked him, as he always does. Could he have been so active with fluid in his lungs? It seems like whatever is wrong, has hit after I cleaned him and put him back in his cage (between then and this morning). Also, I just checked on him and he's getting SLIGHTLY more active, and pooping/squirting a lot. He doesn't seem to want to move his lower half very much, could it be that he's just feeling really bad? He's just so weak! He has also started to get just about 1/4 inch of his tongue out, but nothing that you'd call a regular tongue flick. Thanks so far for the help, please keep it coming!
Where are you keeping him and what are the temperatures like? Regurgitation and "acting all but dead" can both be caused by serious overheating.
There are certainly other possibilities. That's just one that comes to mind this time of year....
I would take him to a vet, the not moving the lower half of his body reminds me of a Burmese that has IBD, which is unfortunately fatal, but I would take to a vet to have him checked out
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Frank Roberts
R&R Herpetological
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Roberts'Realm of Reptile Research
